Thursday, November 11, 2010

Ethan Wate lives in the small town of Gatlin, South Carolina. He's part of the "in" crowd at school but he yearns for more. When he starts having dreams about a mysterious girl he wonders who she could be. But life gets weird when Lena Duchannes, a girl who is decidedly "out", comes to town. It's weird because Lena is the girl in his dreams. Ethan is immediately drawn to Lena but she tries to keep her distance - and Lena isn't the only one who wants Ethan to stay away. The whole town is against them, including Ethan's grandmother Amma and the uncle that Lena is staying with, Macon Ravenwood. Lena can't stay away forever though and little by little she reveals her secrets to Ethan, who almost can't believe what he's hearing except that everything she says is coming true. They are very quickly thrust into a race against time and if they don't make it they could both be destroyed. And since Ethan finally found the girl of his dreams he's not about to let go without a fight.

I'm not sure where I heard about this book. I think it might have been one of those Facebook ads. It had a little snippet on the ad and I had to know more. So I clicked the link and the minute I was on the website I knew I HAD to read the book. So I requested it from the library and as soon as it was in my hands I dove right in.

What I love about this book is that it's from Ethan's perspective. So often in YA books it's from the female perspective and while that can be great this was a difference I really enjoyed. This book has something for everyone - a little history (although keep in mind it's Southern history, hehe), star-crossed lovers, a race against time with some supernatural thrown in for good measure. The characters are fun and eccentric and the story itself is written so well. When I wasn't reading this book I was thinking about it. And when I was reading it it was almost as if I was racing towards the end with Ethan and Lena. I had hadHAD to know what was going to happen! And the minute I closed the book all I could think was "Oh my gosh, I need to get my hands on the next book!"

I can't gush about this book enough. Truly it is probably my favorite this year. So my suggestion to each of you is GO READ IT. And my suggestion to myself is that I need to scrape together some money so I can buy myself a copy. Because this book is most certainly a re-read.

If there were a reading contest, you would win hands down, because you read SO MUCH! Love the reviews though! I have a hard time picking out books sometimes. I'm fast reader, but sometimes it's not the first on my list of things to do. Well... the Twilight books got my attention pretty good ;)

At first, I mainly want to read this only because I'm from South Carolina, but after reading what you wrote about it, it seems like a story I would really be interested in and I may pick this up after I finish my current read. [=